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School Expeditions and Camps

Whether you’re starting the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award or you’ve been running it for years, we can help ease the burden of the Adventurous Journey on your school. We understand there are severe time and safety constraints on teachers and schools with regard to outdoor education. We aim to reduce these barriers to enable you and your students to gain the full benefit of participating in the Duke of Ed award.

Similarly, we run a program for senior PDHPE students tying in with the Lifelong Physical Activity strand. We introduce PDHPE students to low-impact hiking, basic navigation and bushcraft skills in the form of an overnight hike and camp. This helps students formulate goals and apply strategies to enhance participation in lifelong physical activities, as defined in learning outcome 5.9.

Our first Duke of Ed Residential Project in December 2016 was a huge success. If you’re doing your Gold award and think bushwalking in the Blue Mountains is a great way to spend a week, check out our Residential Project page..

What we do and how this benefits you and your school

Click on each row to reveal your benefits

Provide years of experience running Duke of Ed hikes and school camps

If you or your Principal are a bit nervous about taking students into the bush, leave it to us. We have been doing it all our lives and professionally since 2009. We take immense pride in having helped thousands of students achieve their goals with only a few sprained ankles along the way. Your school doesn’t need Bear Grylls as a teacher to run Duke of Ed.

Provide comprehensive risk assessment documents and bear all risk for the activity

You can provide your Principal with a document detailing all assessed risks and the lengths we’ve gone to alleviate them. This gives you peace of mind that we run our programs as safe as possible.

Have $10,000,000 public and product liability insurance

Whatever happens your school is covered.

Supply highly trained, experienced supervisors/guides who have: Working With Children Check; First Aid qualifications and training; a lifetime love and understanding of the Australian bush; vast experience supervising Duke of Ed adventurous journeys

Your students are in the bush with:
* trustworthy
* highly competent
* knowledgable and friendly supervisors.
They are in safe hands and will love the experience.

Our supervisor:student ratio is 1:12 and we take a maximum of 24 students, ie 2:24.

Your students are not only in safe hands, with these ratios they will be well supervised and looked after.
We endeavour to supply both male and female supervisors for co-ed schools.

* 24/7 all location emergency communications if required
* You and parents can track your students journey via the Spot Tracker GPS on the supervisor’s pack
* Supervisors/teachers in constant contact on the track

Conduct a FREE pre-trip briefing session at your school

Prepare your students for the upcoming hike and meet the award requirements with a preparation and skills training session at your convenience. Either during school or invite the parents and we’ll do it after hours. This is free for your Sydney school or non-school Award Unit when using us to supervise your journey.
If you’d like to supervise your own journeys you can still benefit from this preparation and skills training session for $300 inc GST.

Select routes and supply maps and compasses

We take care of all logistics around the actual hike enabling you to focus on the students, parents and school.

Up to two FREE teachers per hike

Your school does not need to send teachers. If school policy dictates teachers must accompany students we do this at no cost to your school.

Nominate your preferred date and award level and we’ll look after the rest. We can also manage online registrations and share participant information with you as we receive it.

Testimonials

Aquinas Catholic College Menai

“We have hiked with Sydney Coast Walks since starting the Duke of Ed program at our school in September 2013. Our students (and staff) have always enjoyed the friendly nature of the guides and the extensive knowledge they bring with them on both the Heathcote and Coast Track hikes they run for us. We value the dedicated hikes which Sydney Coast Walks allow us to book for our students and the ease of organisation that is provided by Tara and Ian with these bookings. The open hikes Sydney Coast Walks offer in school holidays are a great backup option for our students if they need to catch up on a hike. Being able to complete a catch up hike with the same company puts student, parent and staff minds at ease. Overall, a great local company who we look forward to having an ongoing connection with!”

De La Salle Revesby

Andrew Finch, Duke of Ed coordinator

“We couldn’t run the Duke of Ed program at De La Salle without the assistance of Sydney Coast Walks. Their organisation is thorough and meticulous, equipment in excellent condition and most impressively Ian and the other guides are extremely pastoral in their dealings with the boys, challenging them to take control of situations whilst still being protective of their safety and concerned for their welfare. The information night prior to going on the first hike was very valuable and helped ease the parents concerns about the hikes. Much of the worry around running a program like the Dukes comes from the unknown as an organiser and Sydney Coast Walks’ contingency planning certainly provided peace of mind.”

Rouse Hill Anglican College

Rev Jeremy Clark, Duke of Ed Coordinator.

“We have worked with Sydney Coast Walk for a number of years now and have found their service to be excellent. They are well equipped for helping our students meet the requirements of the Adventurous Journey component of the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Their guides are knowledgeable about how to enjoy the Australian bush and it is a pleasure to work with them to organise each trip. Each time our students go on an Expedition they are challenged and develop their understanding of the bush and how to survive in it.”

“Just finished a section of the Great North Walk for our school’s Duke of Ed. What a beautiful walk! A little challenging. I just wanted to say thank you for choosing John and Leonie to guide our group. They immediately built a positive rapport with the students and staff. They are passionate, compassionate and show endless patience. Just wanted to show my huge appreciation for all they did, above and beyond just guiding the walk.”
Ruth Doyle, Teacher, Rouse Hill Anglican College

“Just a quick note to say that we completed a very successful gold hike this week. I wanted to say how fabulous our guide, Amanda, was – she is like a teenager-whisperer! By the end of a few days’ hike, she had the students communicating openly, making group navigation and general hiking decisions, and acting supportively, respectfully and responsibly toward each other and the environment. She gave students the space to make mistakes whilst encouraging them to make good choices throughout with both the boundaries and flexibility teenagers need.”
Jonas Lemmon, Teacher, Northern Beaches Secondary College

2017 Pricing

Minimum charge is $1000 per day for up to 10 participants

A bronze hike is minimum $2000 ie $200 each for ten participants

A silver hike is minimum $3000 ie $300 each for ten participants

A gold hike is minimum $4000 ie $400 each for ten participants

Each additional participant is charged at $100 per person per day

A 25% non-refundable deposit is required to confirm your desired dates. The balance will be invoiced to the school upon completion of the hike

Two teachers can join each hike FREE

All schools booking us for a hike receive one FREE in school pre-trip briefing per hike

If you don’t have enough participants for your own exclusive school hike you are welcome to send your students to our open hikes.